ATO HQ: Militants using banned weapons, harassing fire

On 14 April, two years after the start of the antiterrorist operation in Donbas, pro-Russian militants launched 50 shooting attacks against Ukrainian troops, the ATO press centre has said on Facebook.

Militants continue to use the weapons banned by the Minsk agreements, blaming the ATO troops for violating them, it said.

Since the midnight, the separatists have targeted Avdiyivka with small arms and grenade launchers nine times. Since 6 a.m. they fired with 82-mm mortars on Zaytseve three times, Avdiyivka and the Butivka mine once each.

They fired with 120-mm mortars near Maryinka and Luhanske and with anti-aircraft mounts in the direction of Novotroyitske. "In parallel to aimed shooting, the enemy also employed the tactic of harassing fire. Each time the enemy dangerously approached our strongpoints, the ATO forces returned fire. There have been seven such episodes today already. Almost all of them were in the industrial zone of Avdiyivka. The situation remains difficult and further escalation is not ruled out. Anyway, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are prepared for any development of events," the HQ said.

Earlier, President Petro Poroshenko said that he was going to discuss the deployment of an OSCE police mission in Donbas.

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